Railway-track construction.



C. M. BOWMAN.

RAILWAY TRACK CONSTRUCTION. APPLICATION FILED DEC-H.191?)- 1,213,580., Patented Jan. 23, 1917.

PATEE'T @FFTCE.

CHARLES M. BOWMAN, OF LEBANON, PENNSYLVANIA.

RAILWAY-TRACK CONSTRUCTION.

Application filed December 18, 1915.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CnARLns M. BOWMAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lebanon, in the county of Lebanon and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway-Track Constructions; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The invention relates to improvements in railway track construction, and more particularly to a rail securing and supporting means adapted for application to the ordinary type of ties, now used in such construction, without necessitating any radical changes in general form of the latter.

The primary object of the invention is to provide an ordinary railway tie with an inexpensive and simplified means for supporting the rails and prevent the latter from cutting into, or being otherwise embedded in, the tie under the weight of the traffic passing thereo er, such means performing substantially the same function that the metallic tie-plate, but which will be free from certain objections which apply to said metallic plates, and from certain defects which inhere therein.

The main objection to the use of metallic tie-plates is their liability to become loosened, more or less, from their seat upon the tie, and the subsequent accumulation of moisture thereunder, which causes an early rotting of the tie, and an otherwise hastening of the wear and deterioration of the latter. An equally important objection to the use of these metallic tie-plates is their relatively high cost in manufacture, and the additional expense for labor in their distribution to and placing in proper position on the ties, which, in some instances, necessitates the cutting of a mortise in the surface of the tie for their reception and the proper seating of the rail thereon.

The present invention contemplates an ordinary tie being provided with roughly hewn-out mortises, properly spaced to underlie the rails of a predetermined gage and to extend for a distance beyond the opposite edges of the flanges thereof, and the filling of each mortise with a suitable cement flush with the upper face of the tie, or slightly above the face thereof, if desired, to partially embed the flange therein, after the Specification of Letters latent.

Patented Jan. 23, 1917.

Serial No. 87,600.

usual spikes have been driven into the tie, as now common in the practice, but within the confines of each mortise, so that the upper portions of the same are surrounded by the cement.

With the foregoing and other equally important objects in view, the invention resides in the certain new and novel construction as will be hereinafter more fully described, set forth in the appended claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is a top plan view of a portion of a railway track embodying the invention, Fig. 2 is a transverse section of the same with a tie, and the rail carried thereby, partly in section, and, Fig. 3 is a longitudinal elevation of the same with one of the ties in crosssection to show the mortise formation therein.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, in which similar characters of reference designate corresponding parts in the several views thereof, the numeral 10- represents a tie, of usual form and material, within the upper surface of which, at places where the rails -11 cross, are formed elongated mortises or pockets -l2. These mortises or pockets 12 are somewhat narrower than the width of the tie and are of a length to project to either side of the opposite edges of the flanges -13- of the rail, so that the spikes 14, when driven into the tie to engage the flanges of the rail in the usual manner, are spaced from the walls of the mortises or pockets 12 for the purpose to be hereinafter fully set forth. Each of the mortises or pockets 12 may be of any desired depth to admit of any desired proportion of the length of the spike being engaged within the body of the tie, when the head of the same has been driven into firm contact with the adjacent rail flange.

After the several ties have been properly spaced along the road-bed, and the rails spaced to the desired gage thereon and spiked in the manner hereinbefore described, each mortise or pocket 12- is filled with a suitable cement, or other substance having similar hardening characteristics of cement, the same being packed therein to entirely surround the rail securing spikes 1&-, and to solidly contact the under-surface of the rail-flanges -l3-.

It is to be desired that the spikes --14 be formed with oppositely disposed grooves or recesses -15 into which the cement packs tightly to further retain the spikes against accidental loosening, and consequently the loosening of the rails secured thereby, under the strains and stresses of either the re-positioning of the track, during the ballasting process, or the passage of the traffic thereover.

It is to be noted of the track construction, thus provided for, that the heretofore objectionable metal to metal contact, between the under-surface of the rail-flanges and the metallic base-plates, now in common use, is eliminated, as is also the possibility of the accumulation of moisture under, or immediately adjacent the rails and spikes, such as hastens the early rotting, Wearing and otherwise deterioration of the tie at the points of support of the rails thereon.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various deviations could be made in carrying out the invention Without departing from the spirit and scope of the same as herein presented.

Having thus fully described the invention, What is claimed is The combination with a railway tie or sleeper having pockets formed in its upper face immediately below the rails crossing the same, said pockets being slightly narrower than the tie and of a length to extend beyond the opposite edges of the flanges of the rails, of spikes having recesses formed in their opposite faces engaged in the tie Within the confines of the pockets and spaced from the walls thereof, said recesses disposed entirely Within said pockets, and a plastic mass capable of hardening filling the pockets and engaging in the recesses of and surrounding said spikes to prevent the spikes from becoming dislodged from their original intact position.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature, in presence of two Witnesses.

CHARLES M. BOWMAN.

Witnesses:

C. H. BENDER, C. G. RAUOH.

copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

